ABSTRACT
The Great Recession and its impact on federalism are considered from a local perspective, views of IGR “from below.” The study of IGR depends on the relations between the levels of government that in turn rest on local expectations and these expectations have been at the least frustrated and possibly transformed by the Great Recession. Cooperative federalism has inculcated in local governments an expectation of support from the other levels of government, and local views of these relations are not well-studied. The data for this research comes from a survey of city and county leaders asking a series of in-depth questions regarding actions of federal and state governments in providing funding, demanding additional services, and increasing functional responsibilities, and their perceptions of relations with the federal and state governments before and after the Great Recession. The data point out that local government leaders differ in their views of federal and state government actions and their relations with them after the Great Recession, and suggest some differences in the views of cities and counties on these issues.
